Christmas at the Malfoys'
by Jemennuie
Summary: The Malfoys and Lestranges join together to celebrate Draco's first Christmas, complete with fun while unwrapping gifts, Draco's first words, and pie.


A/N: This one-shot is set in December 1980 (i.e., before Voldemort's first downfall).

 **Christmas at the Malfoys'**

It was after a very filling and delicious meal that the Malfoys and the Lestranges found themselves sitting around the Malfoys' Christmas tree. It was an immense tree, decorated in shining gold and silver baubles, as well as candy canes and enchanted candles merrily nestled between the tree's branches. The room was carpeted with a thick cream-colored rug with gold stitching, and the gifts underneath the tree were wrapped in brilliant shades of green and red, complete with elaborate bows that morphed from saying "Merry Christmas!" to "And a good season for all!"

Lucius and Narcissa were sitting on one couch gazing at the Christmas tree lights with baby Draco snuggly nestled in Narcissa's arms, while Bellatrix and Rodolphus were on another couch passing a tall glass of eggnog between each other. Rabastan was sitting cross-legged on the floor close to the tree and, casually leaning back on his hands, said, "Shall we do gifts?"

"We may as well exchange gifts while we're still all a-a-awake," Narcissa replied, stifling a yawn. Lucius attempted to stifle a yawn mere moments later, as Narcissa stood up and adopted a motherly tone, "Come on Draco, we're going to help distribute the gifts. After we open gifts, then us grown-ups might have the pie I made for dessert."

Narcissa bent down to pick up several gifts, while Draco desperately attempted to grab a candy cane from the tree but missed. "This one is for Lucius, from your loving wife." She held out the ornately wrapped package to Lucius before affectionately pressing a kiss to his forehead.

"Thank you, dear," he said, taking the box from Narcissa.

"This gift is for Bella, from your loving sister," Narcissa continued, handing her a colorful box as Draco stretched his arm out towards the tree.

"What? No kiss for me?" Bellatrix replied in a mockingly teasing voice.

"Oh, honestly, Bella," she said, giving her a peck on the cheek.

"Much better," Bellatrix laughed, playfully smirking.

Narcissa picked up a package from underneath the tree as Draco made another swipe for a candy cane – this time successfully – and happily began sucking on the candy cane. "This gift is for Rabastan, from Lucius – "

"If it comes with a kiss from Lucius I don't want it," Rabastan said in a deadpan voice.

"I believe I would need inordinately more wine for that," Lucius replied seriously.

"Excellent. Gift accepted then," Rabastan said, taking the present and setting it down next to him. "Here, Narcissa, I can help pass out the gifts, too; help keep Draco from eating anymore of the tree."

"Help keep — " Narcissa began in a quizzical voice before she turned to look at her son. "Draco! It's not healthy for a baby like you to be eating pure sugar like that."

As soon as she took the candy cane from his mouth, Draco began bawling. Bellatrix stood up, glass of eggnog in hand and wincing said, "Here Draco, you can have some of this if you stop crying."

"Eggnog is not exactly healthy either," Narcissa sighed as her sister gently held the glass up to Draco's mouth and poured a bit in. He quickly stopped crying – apparently distracted by the sweet drink – when Narcissa sniffed. "Bella…does that eggnog have alcohol in it?"

From the couch, Rodolphus interjected, "Of course the eggnog has alcohol in it – what would be the point of eggnog without alcohol?"

"You can't give babies alcohol!" Narcissa cried out, facing Bellatrix.

"Oh hush, it was just a bit," Bellatrix replied, taking a seat. "Mother used to rub alcohol on our gums when we were teething and we turned out fine."

Narcissa grumbled something under her breath as Rabastan continued to distribute the presents. "This one is for you," he said, handing Narcissa a delicately wrapped sphere. "This one is for Draco…another one for Draco…one for Rodolphus…another one for Draco...another one for Draco…another one for Draco…say, how many presents is Draco getting this year?"

"Do you know how many adorable things there are for babies?" Narcissa said meekly.

"We want him to have the best of everything," Lucius added proudly.

"Honestly, he's not going to remember any of this," Bellatrix said, taking a sip of eggnog. "You could give him nothing but rags and trash until he turned 3 years old and be fine."

Narcissa looked scandalized at the mere thought and sat down next to Lucius as though she needed a moment. Draco continued obliviously cooing in Narcissa's arms as she exclaimed, "Just because he isn't going to remember this, does not mean it's not special!"

Lucius added, "Besides, if anything we do helps him sleep through the night then it will be worth every knut."

The bags underneath his and Narcissa's eyes suddenly seemed quite pronounced. Bellatrix shrugged, "Just let the House Elf take care of him during the night then."

"Let a House Elf take care of _our_ baby?" Narcissa cried, outraged.

From behind Narcissa, Lucius immediately began gesturing to Bellatrix to drop the matter. Bellatrix, seemingly unable to read his desperate gestures, continued, "Yes, House Elves do quite an adequate job raising babies – "

" _Adequate?_ " Narcissa interrupted, raising her voice. "Adequate is not enough for our son, and no House Elf will ever – "

"Did you hear that?" Lucius suddenly interrupted, all of his attention fixed on Draco.

"Hear what?" Narcissa said, her voice immediately regaining a gentler tone.

"Draco just said something," Lucius breathed.

The entire room fell silent for several moments, until Rodolphus loudly whispered to Rabastan, "Lucius is doing an excellent job of keeping Bella and Narcissa from arguing by distracting them."

"I did actually hear Draco say something," Lucius responded irritably.

The room was still for another moment until Draco made a garbled sound that vaguely resembled the sound 'da.'

Lucius immediately swept Draco up in his arms, beaming. "Draco's trying to say 'Dada'! He wants his dad."

"Given he only said a single syllable, for all we know he's trying to say 'Dark Lord," Bellatrix muttered under her breath, as Narcissa took Draco from Lucius's arms.

Holding up the baby, Narcissa looked him in the eyes and said very seriously, "Draco, we discussed this. Your first word was going to be 'Mama'. Say it after me: Mama."

"Dada," he giggled.

Narcissa frowned before imperceptibly sniffing. Her demeanor immediately changed, and she sweetly said to the room, "I've been keeping Draco to myself all night. Would anyone else like to hold him?"

Lucius had learned to recognize the face Narcissa made when Draco needed a diaper change, and he immediately said, "I think we should give his aunt or one of his uncles the chance to hold him."

Draco in her arms, Narcissa approached Bellatrix and Rodolphus, who immediately recoiled in unison at the prospect of holding a baby. Taking the hint, she walked towards Rabastan, who held out his arms he said, "Oh, I suppose I can hold the little guy." After carefully placing Draco in his arms, Narcissa promptly returned to her seat next to Lucius. It only took a few additional seconds before Rabastan sniffed and said aloud, "What's that smell?"

"Oh, I don't know," Narcissa lied. "Perhaps he needs his diaper changed. Lucius and I have a system established where whoever is holding him when his diaper needs to be changed, is the one who does the changing."

Rabastan sniffed again and winced at the smell. He hurriedly added, "You know, I'm not even technically his uncle. I'm his uncle's brother. Really, I'm barely family at all – surely you don't want someone who's not even family to do any sort of childcare?"

On the contrary, Narcissa and Lucius seemed perfectly happy to have him do that sort of childcare. Rabastan shifted his attention to pleadingly looking at his brother who immediately retorted, "Don't give me puppy eyes like that."

"Dolph, don't you want to be his _favourite_ uncle?"

"Not if it involves changing diapers."

Rabastan looked around the room again, as everyone avoided eye contact with him. He finally stood up and tutted, "Fine, I'll change his diaper. You're all terrible people, though. Where should I change it?"

"We have everything laid out in the washroom," Narcissa said, gesturing to an adjacent room.

Grumbling only mildly under his breath, Rabastan disappeared into the adjacent washroom with the baby and could be heard chattering away to him. "Okay, here's the changing table, we lay you down on it, and – you must have snaps on your onesie somewhere, oh there they are – then we take off your diaper and – dear Merlin! How can something so small produce so much – ew, Draco! Don't do that!"

Bellatrix and Rodolphus smirked at each other as Rabastan continued his exclamations, pleased at their ability to avoid dirty diapers.

After several minutes, a slightly frazzled Rabastan returned to the room carrying Draco. "Honestly, Narcissa, Lucius, I don't know how – oh." The two Malfoys had not moved from their seated positions, but they were both now soundly asleep; Lucius was softly snoring and Narcissa's head was gently lolling onto his shoulder. Rabastan continued, "Dang, and here I was hoping we'd still be able to have some of that pie Narcissa mentioned."

"I know where it is," Bellatrix replied in a bored tone. "Rodolphus and I can bring some here while you babysit Draco."

The two of them set off for the kitchens, Rabastan's voice echoing behind them as he spoke to Draco, "Why are you so wiggly now? Where are you – no, don't pull on that!"

By the time Bellatrix and Rodolphus returned from the mansion's kitchens, the room was quiet. Rabastan – apparently exhausted from watching Draco – had dozed off, sleeping baby Draco curled up in his arms. Draco stirred when the two Lestranges entered the room and gave a small cough before spitting up on Rabastan's robes. Apparently pleased with himself, he nestled his head back against Rabastan's chest before drifting back to sleep.

Bellatrix and Rodolphus sat eating their pie for several moments before Bellatrix said idly, "We are never having children."

Rodolphus nodded seriously. "I agree. Besides, more pie for us."

…

A/N: An early "Merry Christmas!" to everyone who celebrates it. My apologies for not posting much of late; grad school has been unbelievingly time-consuming these past few years. Also, while I admit Draco is on the early side for babbling and crawling, he's still within the age range when those behaviors start (at least according to the parenting websites I've found).


End file.
